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For Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, intimacy is what Zen practice is all about: the realization of the essential lack of distinction between self and other that inevitably leads to wisdom and compassionate action. She approaches the practice of intimacy beginning at its most basic level—the intimacy with ourselves that is the essential first step. She then shows how to bring intimacy into our relationships with others, starting with those dearest to us and moving on to those who don’t seem dear at all. She then shows how to grow in intimacy so that we include everyone around us, all of society, the whole world and all the beings it contains. Each chapter is accompanied by practices she uses with her students at the Village Zendo for manifesting intimacy in our lives.

About the author

Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara is a Soto Zen Priest and Zen Teacher in the White Plum lineage. She received priest ordination from Taizan Maezumi Roshi and dharma transmission from Bernie Tetsugen Glassman. She is the founder and abbot of the Village Zendo in New York City.

Joan Halifax, PhD, is a Zen priest and anthropologist who has served on the faculty of Columbia University and the University of Miami School of Medicine. For the past thirty years she has worked with dying people and has lectured on the subject of death and dying at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Medical School, Georgetown Medical School, and many other academic institutions. In 1990, she founded Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist study and social action center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1994, she founded the Project on Being with Dying, which has trained hundreds of healthcare professionals in the contemplative care of dying people.

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Read it .now 13 years after diagnosed with prostate cancer enjoying the moment.prognosis I have tll christmas

Chrysta

Review: Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges I enjoyed the writing, the practices, the q&a. I appreciated the way the subjects were simple, yet deeply personal and useful for me. I will read this again.

Emma

Review: Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges "What is the deepest truth? What is the wisdom that liberates?"

Lynette Monteiro

Review: Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges Terrific teachings on the practice and intention of Zen. Pat Enkyo O'Hara Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges Full review at 108 Zen Books

Ed

Review: Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges A clear, well-written introduction to Zen practice for the curious, and a reminder to old timers of the deep value practice can bring to every aspect of life. Very neatly done.

Review: Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges I enjoyed the writing, the practices, the q&a. I appreciated the way the subjects were simple, yet deeply personal and useful for me. I will read this again.

Review: Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges Terrific teachings on the practice and intention of Zen. Pat Enkyo O'Hara Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges Full review at 108 Zen Books

Review: Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges A clear, well-written introduction to Zen practice for the curious, and a reminder to old timers of the deep value practice can bring to every aspect of life. Very neatly done.

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Conflict is going to be a part of your life—as long as you have relationships, a job, or dry cleaning to be picked up. Bracing yourself against it won’t make it go away, but if you approach it consciously, you can navigate it in way that not only honors everyone involved but makes it a source of deep insight as well. Seasoned mediator Diane Hamilton provides the skill set you need to engage conflict with wisdom and compassion, and even—sometimes—to be grateful for it. She teaches us how to:

Cultivate the mirror-like quality of attention as your base Identify three personal conflict styles and determine which ones you fall into Recognize the three fundamental perspectives in any conflict situation and learn to inhabit each of them Turn conflicts in families, at work, and in every kind of interpersonal situation into win-win situations Her unique approach unites Zen wisdom and Integral Spirituality with her own story and her experiences as a professional mediator in a way that shows you how to look at conflict in a new way: as an essentially spiritual practice.

We've all had moments in our lives when we've thought, "Something is missing. There must be more to life than this." It is this sense that often brings people to the practice of Zen. By turning to Zen, they acknowledge that this “something” lies not in externals, but rather in seeking to transcend desire and attachment. The journey toward that transcendence begins with questioning, and questions will be part of the path until awakening is attained.

In What More do You Want? a fascinating new book by renowned Zen master Albert Low, he addresses some of the questions students have posed about the practice of Zen: Why do we practice? Why should we seek to understand our reasons for practicing? How can we distinguish between true and false practice? What is awakening? In addition, Low shares with his readers four teishos—talks that comment on a text or koan in order to enhance meditation practice—on zazen or seated meditation, on pain and suffering, and on the very nature of practice itself. Finally, Low shares with readers an experience of satori, a glimpse into Buddha nature.

All readers, both novice and longtime practitioners, will encounter in this book new answers, and new questions, to the what, why and how of Zen practice.

Charlotte Joko Beck offers a warm, engaging, uniquely American approach to using Zen to deal with the problems of daily living—love, relationships, work, fear, ambition, and suffering. Everyday Zen shows us how to live each moment to the fullest. This Plus edition includes an interview with the author.

A growing body of research is showing that mindfulness can reduce stress, improve physical health, and improve one’s overall quality of life. Jan Chozen Bays, MD—physician and Zen teacher—has developed a series of simple practices to help us cultivate mindfulness as we go about our ordinary, daily lives. Exercises include: taking three deep breaths before answering the phone, noticing and adjusting your posture throughout the day, eating mindfully, and leaving no trace of yourself after using the kitchen or bathroom. Each exercise is presented with tips on how to remind yourself and a short life lesson connected with it.

In this inspiring and incisive offering, Barry Magid uses the language of modern psychology and psychotherapy to illuminate one of Buddhism's most powerful and often mysterious technologies: the Zen koan. What's more, Magid also uses the koans to expand upon the insights of psychology (especially self psychology and relational psychotherapy) and open for the reader new perspectives on the functioning of the human mind and heart. Nothing Is Hidden explores many rich themes, including facing impermanence and the inevitability of change, working skillfully with desire and attachment, and discovering when "surrender and submission" can be liberating and when they shade into emotional bypassing. With a sophisticated view of the rituals and teachings of traditional Buddhism, Magid helps us see how we sometimes subvert meditation into just another "curative fantasy" or make compassion into a form of masochism.

Waking Up Together is written for those who want to journey to new depths of intimacy, both spiritually and in their love relationship. The book shows how a committed, long-term relationship can enhance spiritual development and how relationships can be transformed by spiritual practice. Written by two Zen teachers married for thirty-seven years, it shows that relationships and all that arise from them can be a help--not a hindrance!--as we seek greater freedom and joy. It is possible to wake up together!

Going far beyond merely recommending skills and strategies to improve relationships, Waking Up Together serves as a guide in our ongoing process of spiritual discovery and intimacy. Throughout the book the authors intermingle stories and poems along with anecdotes from their married life, empowering couples to awaken to an ever-expanding experience of relationship that is full of spontaneity, mystery, awe, love, and unlimited possibility. Waking Up Together will be useful for couples of all persuasions. It affirms and encourages couples to cultivate the richness of their own relationship, and open to the unbounded potential of love.

In this companion volume to The Three Pillars of Zen, Kapleau establishes guidelines for Western practitioners of Zen Buddhism, offering appealing, simple answers to the questions Westerners most often ask. Among the topics discussed in this informative, user-friendly book: "Transcendental Meditation: Who Transcends What?", "Can I Practice Zen and Be a Good Jew (or Catholic)?", "Reading About Enlightenment Is Like Scratching an Itchy Foot Through Your Shoe," and "Meditation Is an Escape--What Are You Doing to Help Society?" Kapleau's eloquence, humor, and authority make this an indispensible handbook for understanding Zen in the Western world.

Being Black has gained an enthusiastic following in African American and Zen communities. Angel Kyodo Williams shows black Americans how to develop a "warrior-spirit" of truth and responsibility that can lead to happiness and personal transformation. The principles and tools she offers provide a framework for addressing the African American community's unique worries, hopes, challenges, and expectations. Williams uses an eloquent, hip, and honest approach to share personal stories, time-tested teachings, and simple guidelines that invite readers of all faiths to discover how to step into the freedom of a life lived with fearlessness, grace, and fluidity.

Enter the mind and practice of Zen: apply the insights of one of Zen's classic poems to your life--here and now.

Destined to become a trusted, dog-eared companion.Shitou Xiqian’s “Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage” is a remarkably accessible work of profound depth; in thirty-two lines Shitou expresses the breadth of the entire Buddhist tradition with simple, vivid imagery. Ben Connelly’s Inside the Grass Hut unpacks the timeless poem and applies it to contemporary life. His book delivers a wealth of information on the context and content of this eighth-century work, as well as directly evokes the poem’s themes of simple living, calm, and a deep sense of connection to all things. Each pithy chapter focuses on a single line of the poem, letting the reader immerse himself thoroughly in each line and then come up for air before moving on to the next. Line by line, Connelly shows how the poem draws on and expresses elements from the thousand years of Buddhist thought that preceded it, expands on the poem’s depiction of a life of simple practice in nature, and tells stories of the way these teachings manifest in modern life. Connelly, like Shitou before him, proves himself adept at taking profound and complex themes from Zen and laying them out in a practical and understandable way. Eminently readable, thoroughly illuminating, Inside the Grass Hut shows the reader a path of wholehearted engagement—with the poem, and with the world. Destined to become a trusted, dog-eared companion.

In today's harried, ultra-connected, technology-laden society, it's easy to become overwhelmed. The term "zen" is used freely by those seeking to calm and simplify their lives. But to truly reap the benefits of Zen, one must understand what it is and how to change his or her thinking and actions to achieve it. Zen monk and sensei Domyo Burk shows readers how to get started on the path to enlightenment and peace, regardless of cultural or religious affiliations. In this book, readers get:

- An introduction to what Zen is-and what it isn't.

- A foundation for how to get started in Zen practice.

- Explanations of the essential teachings of Zen and how they can free readers from the dissatisfaction that is inherent in modern life and improve mental and physical health.

- Step-by-step instructions for engaging in Zazen meditation.

- Guidance on increasing mindfulness, seeking clarity and enlightenment, and living by the Zen moral code.

- Tips for maintaining daily Zen practice, using it to deal with difficult and painful situations, and mastering the art of living.

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